The Strix
The Strix is the oldest society of vampires in existence. They are an ancient group, responsible for countless wars, assassinations, and plagues throughout history. They seem to be mostly made up of Elijah Mikaelson's sireline, who founded the society but abandoned it later on due to their destructive and traitorous ways. History Elijah created the Strix as a society with the intent of gathering great minds in order to help the world, however he abandoned it after realizing that he had in fact created an organization of what he described as "egomaniacal sociopaths". After Elijah's departure, his first progeny, Tristan de Martel, took over as leader. Throughout history, they have been the source behind many wars, assassinations and even plagues. The Originals The Strix are first encountered in I'll See You in Hell or New Orleans. ''Tristan sends Aya as a representative to Marcel in order to offer him a chance to join them. At first, Marcel refuses, resulting in a fight between them which results in Aya poisoning him and taking him to their meeting place. The meeting is then interrupted by Elijah, who grabs hold of Aya's heart in an attempt to force her to state her intentions. Tristan then arrives in order to diffuse the situation. In ''A Walk on the Wild Side, the Strix hold a party both so that their members can meet, and as an initiation for Marcel. Tristan tells Marcel that he must find who took has his daylight ring before sunrise, and kill the one who has it. If he succeeds, he's a member of the Strix, if he fails, he dies. Marcel later discovers that, while Aya was the one who took the ring, Mohinder-a vampire of renown battle capability who feeds on the vampires he's about to kill-possesses the ring. The two fight, and Marcel defeats him by tricking him into feeding off of him, and unwittingly taking in the venom of the werewolf bite Marcel had convinced Hayley to give him earlier. However, Marcel refuses to kill him, realizing that the Strix wanted Mohinder dead the whole time. Tristan then kills him, and reveals that whether or not Marcel would be willing to kill him was the true test, and welcomes him into the Strix. In ''Beautiful Mistake'', Tristan sent a legion of Strix led by Aya, to retrieve Rebekah as part of their plan to bring all of the Originals together so they could trap them all and ensure the vampire species' safety. Aya had trouble finding Rebekah's original body so killed her as a witch to force her spirit back into its first body. With her witch body dead, the cloaking spell hiding Rebekah's body wore off and she came out of her coffin, surprised by the ambush. She clashed with Aya and The Strix and despite having been in a coffin without blood for six months, held her own, defeating many of The Strix and holding off Aya. However, more Strix arrived. Freya came to Rebekah's aid and snapped all of The Strix's neck with magic, giving Rebekah time to flee. Aya tricked Rebekah into trusting a Morrocan witch and used the witch to keep Rebekah down while she daggered her. They put her body back in a coffin and prepared to send it to Tristan but were betrayed by Aurora, who had members of her own sire line, take the body for her own plans. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Shen Min was sent to kill Hayley, so she could no longer protect Davina, who The Strix needed for their plans. However, Shen Min was taken captive by Hayley and Marcel, who Shen Min realized wasn't loyal to The Strix. After a failed interrogation, Shen Min broke free and prepared to kill them before Elijah arrived and overpowered him. When questioned on what Tristan and The Strix were planning, Shen Min chose to rather die than reveal their secrets, taking off his daylight ring and burning to death. Membership The Strix seek out talented individuals, and help them grow. Their numbers include artists, politicians, warriors, leaders and people talented in many other areas. They also have numerous vampire soldiers under their command: Notable examples include: * Tristan de Martel, the first vampire ever turned by Elijah, who is both leader of the Strix and credited by Elijah himself with influencing who he became. *Aya, who is skilled in battle and in poisons, being able to create one powerful enough to temporarily take down vampires. *Marcel Gerard: Who was able to create a powerful vampire community from the ground up after Mikael's assault on the city, and was able to temporarily be in complete control of New Orleans. *Mohinder, a warrior who trained himself to go weeks without feeding and feel no ill effects. He fed off of the vampires he was about to kill, and is the one who trained Aya in combat. Unfortunately for him, Tristan became aware of attempts at treachery by him, and so had him killed. *Shen Min, who was once the great conqueror, Genghis Khan's torture consultant. Shen Lin was assigned to remove Hayley from being able to protect Davina Claire. After overpowering his captors, Marcel and Hayley, he was compelled to answer Elijah's questioning but chose to kill himself rather than reveal anymore information, killing himself in sunlight. Customs There are several customs and rituals the Strix possess: * Every few years, they gather in one location in order to simply revel in their existence, as well as sometimes use it for initiations. * When considering a new recruit, they force the potential to undergo an initiation rite, if the potential succeeds, they are welcomed into the Strix, and have access to their resources. If they fail, they are killed. Current Members *Tristan de Martel (leader) *Aya *Marcel Gerard *Possibly Moroccan Witch *Possibly Aurora de Martel *Possibly Lucien Castle *Possibly Gregory *Many Unnamed Members Deceased Members *Mohinder *Shen Min *Many Unnamed Members Trivia * The symbol of the group is of an owl. **In Greek and Roman mythology, the strix was a bird of ill omen that fed on human flesh and blood. ** Strix is the ancient-Greek word for "owl". * The cards they give out to recruits reveal the location of where they can be found by covering it in blood. **The fact that Elijah knew how to reveal the location points to the theory that Elijah had something to do with the creation of the Strix. * According to Tristan, Marcel Gerard is a potential recruit for the group. ** Aya reveals the qualities they admire in him are that he was able to rebuild New Orleans from the ashes and leading a vampire community through his own hard work, rather than relying on having been turned by an Original Vampire. * They seem to be rather heavily biased towards Elijah's bloodline, or at least biased against Klaus', as one noted that Marcel was the first potential to ever come from Klaus' line. * According to Klaus, he had always been excluded from their "club". * In A Walk on the Wild Side, they organized a Strix Gala where Marcel was invited as Special Guest. See also Category:The Originals Season Three Characters Category:Groups Category:The Originals Characters Category:Vampire Armies Category:Supernatural Category:Antagonists Category:Vampires Category:Members of the Strix